Some people collect stamps, but James Brown of Nottingham collects vacuum cleaners. In fact, "Mr. Vacuum Cleaner" has so many of them that he opened a museum:

He was eight, and desperate for a cleaner of his own, when he spotted a red Goblin 800 lying on a rubbish dump. "I took it home, wiped all the muck off it, plugged it in, and it worked," he sighs. "That was one of the most fantastic moments of my life."

By the time he reached his teens James already had 30 vacuum cleaners. One by one his other interests – sport, music, books – bit the dust. "I suppose you could say that vacuum cleaners took over my life," he says.

"I loved the look, the feel, the sound of them. You can't really explain it to people who don't have the same enthusiasm. It's like some people love vintage cars or clocks. For me it was vacuum cleaners."

One of his party turns is to put on a blindfold and identify the host's vacuum cleaner by its engine note.